Ash Wednesday...

Today is Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent, which runs through Easter Sunday, this year falling on April 9th. Whenever I think of Mardi Gras and Lent, I think about The Moviegoer, a novel by Walker Percy, which is set in New Orleans during Mardi Gras, and is one of my favorite reads. It is about a young guy who works as a stockbroker, but not liking it very much, and who escapes from his dull routine by going to the movies as much as possible. And just recently, when packing up my sister Susan's townhouse, I discovered a poster hanging on the wall that I picked up at the American Bookseller Association's Convention in New Orleans back in 1996, which I evidently gave to my brother-in-law George and forgot about until now. I took it home and hung it up in my living room, where I took the photograph of it on the left. When I visited New Orleans way back then, I remember liking the French Quarter and the Garden District, as well as the streetcars connecting them, but beyond that, was not taken with the city. While attending that ABA convention, I do remember running into my old boss from Hatch's Bookstore, Tom McFadden, a quiet, reserved type, taking a group of Japanese businessmen on a tour of Bourbon Street, which I thought was pretty funny. At the time, Tom was working for John Fielder, the Colorado landscape photographer, and these businessmen were from the company that printed their books and calendars. Whether they hit all the strip clubs or not, I do not know. I myself had given them up for Lent.